Weeks 20 -24

 Nov 20 - Dec 17, 2022

You may notice that our blog postings are becoming further and further apart. So many things have transpired that there is not enough room to bore you with them all. So we have selected just a few to give you a taste of what our life has been like these last four weeks.

We said goodbye to sister Morgan who was leaving for home after her 18 month mission. Unfortunately she would miss the baptism of one of her dear investigators. She was so sad to leave.  We loved her so much as she brought great joy to the Institute and missionary work in this area. She is a model sister missionary and we will miss here dearly.

For missionaries and YSAs not able to go home to parents or friends for Thanksgiving, we co-hosted a dinner for them in the basement of one of our young adults. We sent home food with everyone and still had days of leftovers to share. 

We were especially thankful to have the missionaries in our district and hoped that this dinner would help them feel less homesick. 

The end of the semester and institute graduation came way too quickly. In a joint effort with the Institute director and his wife we managed to throw a Cafe Rio style dinner and Christmas program with the graduation ceremonies. 

These students are valiant! Most are in doctoral or masters programs, hold church callings and faithfully come to church and to institute.  With all these distractions they find time to graduate from Institute and stay on the covenant path. We feel that we are working with the future leaders of the church.

We were very excited for the baptism of this investigator. She is in the Army and studying here at The OSU. The missionaries were walking down the street and met her on her porch. That led to coming to an Institute activity which led to more institute activities which led to missionary discussions which led to baptism. She is a real good sport as the water in the font was freezing cold. The water heater in that building did not work! We love her so much! Our prayers are with her as she will deploy later next year.

President and Sister Horgesheimer invited all the senior missionaries in the mission to a Christmas dinner party. Our mission leaders are very generous and thoughtful of all their missionaries. They especially are thankful to the senior missionaries for their help in the mission.

We had 18 couples at the event. It was nice to renew our acquaintances and to share mission experiences with each other. It was a great time and we had fun together.

Since we arrived here at The Ohio State University we have wanted to see the football stadium. It is over 100 years old and has quite a prestigious history. Our institute director took us on a tour of the stadium museum in the library and then over to the stadium itself for a look. 

Many a fan has worshiped at this stadium. It even has stained glass windows and a gothic style cupola at the entrance. Lots of people have dedicated their lives to the cause of sports. It's people like this that we hope to convert to the gospel of Jesus Christ with that same dedication...but going to places of worship for a higher and holier cause.

Our zone put on a Christmas music production that was absolutely marvelous. The talents of these young missionaries is astounding. The multi-media presentations, speakers, musical arrangements, and testimonies were inspiring. 

Of course, with all zone conferences, there is food and activities. We hosted one of 10 stations in a Minute-To-Win-It contest. There were two plates; one with M&Ms and one without. Each contestant had to use a straw and suck on the candy in the plate and move it to the empty plate. The highest average score was 37 in 60 seconds.

One of the most pleasant Christmas presents this year was the birth our our 22nd grand child, Milo James Perona, born December 13, 2022 to Nick and Becca Perona. This is their 5th son of five children! Becca had a difficult pregnancy and he was born seven weeks early, 4 lbs, 15 oz and is doing fine in the NICU.

For one of our after-institute-treats we made some savory "tastations". This one was a hit. We had a variety of non-sweets as many of the young adults today are sometimes health conscious...but not always.

For FHE this group made gingerbread temples instead of gingerbread houses. 

One benefit of living here in Ohio is the comparative lower cost of living than we were used to in California. Gas was $2.84/gallon at this station. So glad as we use our car a lot hauling people and things around.

We continue to enjoy trips to the Indianapolis temple while our Columbus temple is reconstructed. Although the construction is complete already we are waiting for the open house at the end of May and the rededication sometime in June 2023. We took two young adults, one recently called to his mission and leaving next month, the other, a young adult who has become a close friend of ours. 

We performed endowments and sealing for my Italian relatives. Recently most all of the family history work has been miraculous! For instance sister Perona was able to find missing information by shear revelation. Two of the couples were cousins that were married on the same day. One of the husbands had three children and his wife die within seven years of his marriage. We thought it would be meaningful to them to be sealed on the same day. As we knelt at the alter, husband, wife, and children, we truly felt how thin the veil was when performing the Lord's work for our loved ones. 

We feel so fortunate and blessed to serve in a mission where the Savior has the most documented appearances in Church history. This land is sacred to us. It is so nice to be in a social environment where we can speak openly of Christ and the people are generally okay with it. There is a reason why it is called the "heartland". 

The Christ Child: A Nativity Story | #LightTheWorld

We love serving here and we are trying to bless the lives of as many people as we can in so many diverse ways. We know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the restored church of Jesus Christ on the earth today with all its power, priesthood, authority, and ordinances that will bring us back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. We love you all and wish you all a merry Christmas!

Love, Elder and Sister Perona